


Sleepy Brother Syndrome

by RockNoir



Category: The Outsiders (1983), The Outsiders - All Media Types, The Outsiders - S. E. Hinton
Genre: Cuddling, Pre-Movie, a sibling relationship but they aren’t fighting, pony being cute, they’re kids/teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-28 12:44:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20064235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RockNoir/pseuds/RockNoir
Summary: Darry just wants to finish his homework so he can go play football with the other boys.His brothers have other ideas.





	Sleepy Brother Syndrome

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this like 2 years ago

14-year-old Darry sat cross-legged on his bed, math textbook in his lap, and homework sheet in hand. He glared down at the book in frustration. Spread out in front of him were his notes.

So far, his homework had been nothing but a big struggle. Each problem was hard and took way too long for his liking to solve. He just wanted to hurry and finish so he could go play football with the rest of the boys that lived on their street, but homework was important, and he needed to get that done first.

But the problems had taken him far longer than they should have, and he was growing frustrated. He’d even moved from sitting at his desk to sitting on the bed because he’d gotten uncomfortable sitting in a wooden chair for so long. He was the smartest kid in his class! These shouldn’t be a problem! It shouldn’t take this long!

“I hate math,” Darry huffed under his breath. He picked up his pencil from beside his leg and started on the next problem, frustration still etched on to his young face. He ignored the sound of footsteps coming from down the hallway, hoping that if he kept all his attention on his work, he could power through the rest of his homework. He didn’t even blink at the movement in the doorway, only barley catching it in the corner of his eye. It probably wasn’t important.

He mumbled to himself softly, “I carry the three...the five is in the right place...”

“Darry!”

He was startled out of his forced concentration, turning his head to look in to the big green eyes of his youngest brother, seven-year-old Ponyboy. He’d only turned seven a few weeks ago, and he was still small for his age, making him appear almost dwarfed as he stood beside Darry’s high bed. Ponyboy reached out to tap Darry’s arm, even though he already had his big brother’s attention.

“What do you want, Pony?” Darry said, glancing at his math book again.

“Soda said to come ask you that if you are ready to come play football with us now?” He asked, his voice small and full of the grammatically incorrect childish way-of-speak that made Darry smile ever so slightly.

“I can’t yet,” Darry motioned to the papers spread out on his bed, “Im doing homework.”

“But you been doing homework for a billion hours! We want you to come play!”

“I can’t,” repeated Darry. “I have to finish this first. Then I can play, and I won’t be able to finish any faster if you distract me.”

Pony whined and pouted, hitting Darry with the sleeve of the oversized sweatshirt he had on. It used to be Sodapop’s, but he’d outgrown it and gave it to Ponyboy to wear so he wouldn’t get his nice sweater dirty when they played outside.

“I’ll try to finish as fast as I can, okay?” Darry reached out to brush Ponyboy’s hair back. “Then I can go play. Okay?”

“Okay.” Pony had mumbled dejectedly. Then, softly, “Could I help?”

“You want to help me do homework? But you don’t even understand—“

Pony was already struggling to climb up on the highly raised bed, being mindful of the papers, and Darry quickly stretched over his workspace to grab a hold of the back of Pony’s sweatshirt to keep him from slipping off the bed.

“Pony, I’m working, just give me a little longer and I can come play with you all.”

“I’ll help!” Pony insisted, crawling across the bed to wedge himself under his brother’s arm and cuddling against the teen. “I’ll just hug so you can feel better and you won’t be angry when you do your homework! I won’t distract you Darry!”

Knowing his little brother was a cuddle bug and would most likely not want to let go, Darry just sighed and picked up his pencil to work his way through the rest of the problem. The faster he got back to work, the sooner he’d finish.

Two problems later, Pony had fallen asleep with his little face burrowed in to Darry’s side, and Sodapop stood at the foot of the bed, tossing a football up and catching it repeatedly.

“Hurry up Darry. We need you! Both of you or the team won’t be big enough and it won’t be fun!”

“Shh!” Darry said, holding a finger to his lips. “Don’t rush me Soda. I’m almost done, just hold on and be quiet or you’ll wake Pony up.”

Much like Pony, Sodapop whined. He was getting too impatient and Darry was taking too long to do his homework and he just wanted to play football already. He tossed the football on to the bed and threw himself face down beside it, causing Darry to roll his eyes.

“Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up, hurry up, hurry—“

Darry tossed his eraser, hitting Soda right in the back of his head, and Soda dramatically clutched his head and groaned. “Give me a few more minutes, Sodapop.”

By the time Darry had reached the last problem, Soda had fallen asleep, a faint snore escaping him, muffled by his face being smashed in to the blankets on the bed. Darry himself had began to feel tired, but ignored the feeling in favor of trying to finish his homework. The faster he got done, the better.

“Just one more,” he sighed. “Thank God.”

Though hard, the problem was easier to solve than the previous, and took less time, and Darry was quite pleased with himself when he double checked the answer to make sure it was correct and completed. He triumphantly gathered all his notes and homework and slid them in his textbook for safekeeping before reaching to put the book on his desk beside the bed.

Taking a look at both of his brothers who must’ve been too deeply asleep to not have waken at his sounds of frustration by now, he figured that football could wait until later. Or tomorrow, if it had to. He was tired as well.

He laid himself down, slinging an arm around Ponyboy, who only cuddled closer, and being mindful not to kick Sodapop in the ribs, and closed his eyes allowing himself to sleep.

Their nap only lasted 20 minutes longer. The three brothers were jolted awake by a very excited Kieth Mathews (who was let in by their courteous mother) running in and jumping up and down on the bed, informing them that the rest of their little gang had been waiting outside forever and urging them to get up so they could go play football.

***

**Author's Note:**

> It’s past 1 AM here :)


End file.
